Military
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A military or military force (n.) generally refers to a permanent, professional force of soldiers or guerrillas trained exclusively for the purpose of warfare. These military forces should be distinguished from a sanctioned militia or a levy, which are temporary forces of citizen soldiers with less training who are "called up" in wartime. A military can utilize conscription (the "draft") or be made up of volunteers. In some cases, the term military is used more loosely to refer to any armed force.
Military forces have changed from the sword and spear-wielding footsoldiers of antiquity to Middle Ages soldiers mounted on horseback, to Napoleonic-era soldiers armed with gunpowder muskets and cannons. Since World War I, military forces have used motorized vehicles and rapid-fire firearms.
The doctrine that asserts the primacy of a military within a society is called militarism.
[edit] Etymology
The term "military" is derived from Middle French term "militaire," which is derived from the Latin word "militaris," which means "of soldiers or war." The Latin word is derived from from "miles" (genitive version is militis), which means "soldier." Perhaps the term ultimately came from Etruscan meaning "one who marches in a troop." [1] The term military is often used to mean an army.
[edit] Meaning of the word
- Also see: Armed forces
As an adjective, "military" is a descriptive property of things related to soldiers and warfare. It also refers to such context dependent terms such as military reserves which may indicate an actual unit deployable on command or the general sense, of a Nation States reserve troops available to or eligible for duty in its armed forces.
In formal British English, "military" as an adjective sometimes refers more particularly to matters relating to an army (land forces), as opposed to the naval and air force matters of the other two services. In modern British English, whilst the term is still used in an exclusive sense, it has become common for the adjective "military" to describe all branches of the armed forces.
In American English, "military" as an adjective is more widely used for regulations pertaining to and between military procurement, military transport, military justice, military strength, and military force.
[edit] Military history
- Main article: Military history
Military history is often considered to be the history of all conflicts, not just the history of proper militaries. It differs somewhat from the history of war with military history focusing on the people and institutions of war-making while the history of war focuses on the evolution of war itself in the face of changing technology, governments, and geography.
Military history has a number of purposes. One main purpose is to learn from past accomplishments and mistakes so as to more effectively wage war in the future. Another is to create a sense of tradition which is used to create cohesive military forces. Still another may be to learn to prevent wars more effectively.
In the Middle Ages (Medieval Times), being a soldier in the military (armed forces) was an extremely dangerous job. Due to the danger, most men who served in the militery would die working. Soldeirs were mainly born to kill or get killed.
[edit] Military organization
- Main article: Military organization; See also: Military reserve
Armed forces may be organized as standing forces (e.g. regular army), which describes a professional army that is engaged in no other profession than preparing for and engaging in warfare. In contrast, there is the citizen army. A citizen army (also known as a militia or reserve army) is only mobilized as needed. Its advantage lies in the fact that it is dramatically less expensive (in terms of wealth, manpower, and opportunity cost) for the organizing society to support. The disadvantage is that such a "citizen's army" is less well trained and organized.
A compromise between the two has a small cadre of professional NCOs (non-commissioned officers) and officers who act as a skeleton for a much larger force. When war comes, this skeleton is filled out with conscripts or reservists (former full-time soldiers who volunteer for a small stipend to occasionally train with the cadre to keep their military skills intact), who form the wartime unit. This balances the pros and cons of each basic organization, and allows the formation of huge armies (in terms of millions of combatants), necessary in modern large scale warfare.So how
[edit] Military science
- Main article: Military science
Military science concerns itself with the study and of the diverse technical, psychological, and practical phenomena that encompass the events that make up warfare, especially armed combat. It strives to be an all-encompassing scientific system that if properly employed, will greatly enhance the practitioner's ability to prevail in an armed conflict with any adversary.
[edit] Military ideology
- Main article: Militarism
[edit] Other uses of "Military"
- Military procurement refers to common regulations and requirements for a ship or a detached unit to requisition and draw on a base's facilities (housing, pay, and rations for detached personnel), supplies (most commonly food stocks or materials, and vehicles) by the service running a primary base; e.g. Army units detached to or staging through an air base, a vessel calling at a port near an army or air base, an army unit drawing supplies from a naval base.
- Military transport would pertain to an equipment trans-shipped via a sister service, or an individual detached for a technical school operated by a sister service, or the travel orders and authorization of such an individual to proceed via a sister services vehicles, as well as the loan of vehicles (staff cars, Hum-Vees, military trucks) operating from the primary base command.
- Military justice, as in the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Most nations have a separate code of law which regulates both certain activities allowed only in war, as well as provides a code of law applicable only to a soldier in war (or 'in uniform' during peacetime).
- For example, in the United States, the statutory laws set down by Congress to apply to the individual conduct within any military force of the United States are known as the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The code includes specific articles under which a soldier or sailor would be tried for infractions ranging from minor (Late Return, petty theft) to severe (Rape, Murder); this code is usually referred to by the acronym UCMJ.
- Military strength is a term that describes a quantification or reference to a nation's standing military forces or the capacity for fulfillment of that military's role. For example, the military strength of a given country could be interpreted as the number of individuals in its armed forces, the destructive potential of its arsenal, or both.
- For example, while China and India maintain the largest armed forces in the world, the U.S. Military is considered to be one of the world's strongest, although the certainty of such a claim cannot be ascertained without a detailed analysis of opposing military forces in relation to one another as well as taking into account the field(s) of battle and tactics used in such a conflict.
- Military force is a term that might refer to a particular unit, a regiment or gunboat deployed in a particular locale, or as an aggregate of such forces (Example: "In the Gulf War the United States Central Command controlled military forces (units) of each of the five military services of the United States.")
- A military brat is a colloquial term for a child with at least one parent who served full-time in the armed forces. Children of armed forces members may move around to different military bases or international postings, which gives them an unusual childhood. Unlike common usage of the term brat, when it is used in this context, it is not necessarily a derogatory term.
[edit] Specific militaries
See : List of militaries by country
[edit] Military alliances
- NATO
- ANZUS
- SCO
- Warsaw Pact (Now defunct)
[edit] See also
- Comparative military ranks
- Jane's Information Group provides contemporary info on Trade in Military Equipment.
- Martial art
- Militaria
- Military rule
- Military academy
- Military courtesy
- Military tactics
- Military technology and equipment
- Military Aid to the Civil Power
- Military Aid to the Civil Community
- List of countries by number of active troops
- List of countries by size of armed forces
- List of countries without an army
- List of militaries by country
[edit] Periodicals
[edit] External links
- Global Security
- Federation of American Scientists
- Military
- http://www.militaryltd.com/ Military Ltd. An online military community
- Military and Service Magazines of the World's Forces, World War 2
- History of the British SAS including bio's of Chris Ryan, Andy McNab, Eddie Stone, John Lofty Wiseman etc
[edit] References
Major books for understanding the role of the military, and the civilian leadership of the military.
- Why the Allies Won (WWII) by Richard Overy ISBN 0-393-03925-0
- The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Pentagon by "Jeff Cateau" and Michael Levin. An entertaining explanation of the U.S. military and how it is run.
- Get Yamamoto by Burke Davis and published by Random House in 1969. During WW II, the U.S.A. intercepted top secret communications about a tour of forward bases to be conducted by Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, commander of the Japanese Navy. This led to a successful mission to intercept his flight and kill him, the theory being that the Japanese would be handicapped without his leadership.
[edit] Notes
